Plea seeks Khaleda shown arrested in defamation case

A petition was filed on Wednesday seeking BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia, who is already in jail, to be shown arrested in a defamation case filed over undermining Bangladesh’s map, its national flag and stigmatizing the Liberation War.

AB Siddique, president of Bangladesh Jananetri Parishad, a pro-Awami League organisation, submitted the petition before Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Ahsan Habib.

Khaleda did not appear before the court and seek bail despite a standing arrest order, which was issued against her in this matter on October 12 last year, AB Siddique said this in the petition.

On October 12, Dhaka's Metropolitan Magistrate Nur Nabi passed arrest order against Khaleda as she failed to appear before the court even though the court asked her repeatedly to attend court hearing.

On November 3, 2016, Siddique filed the case with the court, accusing Khaleda and her late husband and former president Ziaur Rahman of undermining the country's map, national flag and and stigmatizing the Liberation War.

According to the case statement, Zia had taken over as the country's president after the killing of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman along with most of his family members on August 15 in 1975.

He also threatened Hasina and confined her after she arrived in the country from abroad on May 17 in 1981.

After coming to power, Khaleda had formed a coalition government with Jamaat-e-Islami in 2001. She appointed ministers from the party and handed over the map and the national flag of independent Bangladesh to them even though they fought against the country during the Liberation War.